Disjuncts are words or phrases added to a sentence to show mood, opinion, or emphasis. Examples include fortunately, maybe, and honestly. Disjunctions are either/or statements, like “store or movies.” Disjuncts can be optional and should be used carefully for clear communication.
In English language and grammar, disjunct has a distinct meaning. It is a word or small phrase added to a sentence that tends to show mood, opinion or emphasis in some way. Alternatively, disjunctions can be a comment on what is being said or an expression by the speaker about how true something might be. The disjunctive usually need not be in the sentence and the sentence would be complete without it, although some specific meaning of the writer/speaker may be lost in the process.
There are many words that qualify as disjoint examples. Some words that can be separated include fortunately, unfortunately, hopefully, probably, maybe, maybe, honestly, clearly, briefly and frankly. There are a number of small sentences that are also disjointed sentences and these could include: in my opinion, fortunately for you, in other words, truly, between you and me, to my astonishment, and truth be told. It is easy to see that many more examples could be added and that it is possible to generate a number of other terms and phrases that would serve as disjunctions in different types of sentences.
In addition to generating disjointed words or phrases, it’s quite easy to find phrases that might use them. The following sentence uses a disjointed sentence to comment on the writing process:
It was, in other words, the ugliest cat I had ever seen.
Note that the italicized sentence is not really needed by the sentence and could be spoken without it. The speaker is really commenting on his choice of words, which may or may not be appropriate in the present context of writing. Sometimes it makes sense to remove a sentence that doesn’t belong to him and write a cleaner sentence.
Another example is the following:
Maybe, see you tonight.
Here the term, perhaps, should remain in the sentence as it expresses doubts about the speaker’s plans. Without it, the person being addressed may seem more confident that the speaker will show up that night. Qualifying potential actions is invaluable in avoiding misunderstandings.
On the other hand, the next example of a disjunction could be saying too much:
Honestly, see you tonight.
The term certainly raises the question of whether the speaker is in the habit of lying about plans, and the use of another word such as is surely no stronger than a simple statement of “See you tonight.” Sometimes the use of these words depends on the style of the speaker or writer and is a matter of discretion, but all conscientious users of English or other languages who use disjunctions would benefit from an understandable use, so that they can make informed language choices.
A matter of confusion may be the term disjunction, which is actually very different. Disjunctions tend to be either/or statements, like this example: “You can go to the store or the movies.” They combine two stocks, options or others that cannot coexist. Choosing one means not choosing the other. In a sense, disjunction is the opposite of conjunction because it doesn’t join two things together; instead it joins two things that cannot be or cannot exist together, offering an element of choice.
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